


Port in the Storm

by Queenbee3480



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Discussions of violence, Established Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan, F/F, Married Swan Queen, Political, Real World Scenarios
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28601868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queenbee3480/pseuds/Queenbee3480
Summary: Emma and Regina face the realities of the world around them.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 9
Kudos: 55





	Port in the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> This is set not just in modern times, but specifically today (January 6, 2020). It is politically charged, which I understand is not everyone's cup of tea, but this is how I process. 
> 
> For continuity purpose, let's just say that they left Hook in the Underworld, so both he and Robin Hood are dead. Emma and Regina got together after they came back and married at some point after that. I'm too lazy to figure out how to fit this in to the show's timeline, so everything after the Underworld is gone.

The house was eerily quiet when Emma entered. She supposed that was to be expected since it was nearly 3 hours before Regina was expected home from work. The Mercedes in the driveway had led her to believe that she was home, but perhaps her wife had decided to walk to work today instead.

She set her things down on the kitchen table and reached for her phone to text Regina to let her know that she had left work early. It was just when she pulled the phone out of her pocket that she heard the faint sounds coming from upstairs.

Shoving her phone back in her pocket, she climbed the stairs, one hand resting instinctively on the gun on her hip. She didn’t normally bring it home with her, choosing instead to rely on the combined magical powers of herself and her wife to keep them safe.

Things were different now, though. The world was burning and somehow, this symbol of strength from her old life gave her courage to face each day as it came. Regina had raised one eyebrow when she first brought it home the week before but had not commented.

Regina never questioned the things she needed to do in order to feel safe. Instead, she simply rested a hand on her arm, a show of solidarity and support that she had never known she craved until the day came when she could not imagine living without it. For a woman that once valued her independence above all else, the thought of something happening to her wife filled her with a kind of panic she thought she had put firmly in her past.

Her grasp on her 9-millimeter pistol loosened when she reached the top of the stairs and recognized the sound as the television and felt the familiar swirl of Regina’s magic reach out towards her own. Her shoulders relaxed and she entered the bedroom, smile ready to greet her wife who had apparently also decided that days like today were better spent at home.

Her smile faded when she caught a glimpse of Regina on the bed, face pale, eyes glued to the TV. The mayor gave no indication that she even noticed her wife’s presence in the room.

“Regina?”

There was no response.

“Are you ok?”

At last Regina turned her head towards her briefly, before nodding back at the TV. Emma didn’t need to look at what had her wife’s attention; they were the same headlines that had driven her need to leave the sheriff’s office at 2 in the afternoon that day to spend time with the ones that mattered.

“Mob Invades Capitol”

“US Capitol Secured After Rioters Stormed the Halls of Congress to Block Biden's Win”

“World Leaders Condemn Riots in DC”

The images were frightening, the videos even worse.

Silently, Emma laid down on the bed beside her wife and took her hand. They remained side by side watching events play out in front of their eyes, barely noticing the time that was passing. When Regina spoke, it startled her out of an almost trance-like state.

“I forget, sometimes, that we live in this world.”

“Can’t really blame you for forgetting. Storybrooke is kind of a world of its own.”

Regina shrugged. “Not as much as we would like to think.”

Probably not. While life in Storybrooke was an existence unlike anywhere else in the world, there was no doubt that their little piece of solitude was not immune to the outside world. They had been invaded too many times to rely on their invisibility to protect them

“What’s really bothering you, babe?”

Silence fell again as Regina contemplated the question. For now, it did not appear that Emma would get her answer, so she focused instead on being the port in her wife’s storm. The rock that Regina had been for her so many times in the past. She mimicked the action that Regina was so fond of, the one that had come to represent the strength of their relationship. She placed a hand on Regina’s arm and at the familiar gesture, Regina smiled sadly at last.

“I don’t know if I can keep everyone safe from this,” she admitted. Emma didn’t move her hand.

“No one expects you to,” she said softly.

Regina chuckled dryly. “Don’t they, though?”

The truth of that was hard to deny. The town kept on electing Regina as Mayor and herself as Sheriff. On the surface, it seemed like an extraordinary gesture of trust. Most days, they appreciated it, but if one were to scratch beneath the surface, there was something sinister there. No one had run against them for either position in so long that even they were no longer sure of which term they were officially serving. The expectation that Storybrooke’s first couple would keep them safe was so accepted no one even thought to ever question it, let alone offer to help.

As the town’s law enforcer, she felt the pressure. But she knew that as the town’s creator and founder, Regina felt it in a way that she would never be able to understand. Throw Regina’s temper and her perfectionist nature into the mix and sometimes life at 108 Mifflin Street became a powder keg ready to explode.

“You’ve faced worse than this, Regina. We will face this, too. Together.”

This time, she could feel the struggle in the silence. Regina was no longer contemplating her response or measuring her words. Now, she was battling the instinct to keep whatever was bothering her hidden. She waited patiently, knowing that pushing her wife was an exercise in futility. Regina would talk when she was ready.

She squeezed the hand that was still on her wife’s arm and the slight gesture seemed to pull her out of her thoughts.

“Emma….do you know the most frightened I’ve ever been in my life?”

She shrugged in answer. There was no shortage of choices to pick from. The ever-present threat of Darkness. The endless curses and spells that popped up. The rotating pool of family members that may or may not want them dead. Still, if she had to guess….

“The Olympian Crystal?”

It was a good guess, one that made Regina wince in remembrance. Few things were scarier than the threat an obliterated soul, particularly when that threat was carried out against someone you loved. Still she shook her head.

“What, then?”

Unconsciously, her wife’s hand went to the scar on her lip. “I was 8 when Cora gave me this. It wasn’t magic. I just pissed her off somehow and she slapped me across the face. Her ring did this.”

Emma felt the familiar anger inside of her when she thought of her wife’s childhood and she fought it back down by squeezing Regina’s arm again. Perhaps the squeeze was too hard this time because Regina blinked suddenly, as though being pulled back into the present.

“Of everything I have ever faced, the most afraid I have ever been is when facing a human enraged over being challenged.”

“You were a child,” Emma tried to argue, but Regina shook her head.

“That is irrelevant. I expect monsters to behave like monsters.” She shrugged. “Chernabogs, wraiths, Gods of death, Dark Ones. There are magical solutions to all of them, and between you and me, we will always figure those solutions out.”

She nodded in agreement, beginning to understand the point her wife was trying to make.

“Human beings are more dangerous than all of them, particularly when their beliefs are questioned. Nothing is more sinister than a human in pain. Especially if they are hurting because their belief system is called into question.”

Both of them turned back to the TV, watching the chaos play out in real time. As much as she hated to admit it, Regina had a point.

“Ordinary people can be the worst monsters of all. I know because I was that monster to a lot of people for a long time.”

Emma gave the routine answer to this thought, the one that she knew Regina believed enough to get her through to the next day but was never enough to truly calm the guilt that ate at her all the time.

“You’re not that person anymore.”

It was true and normally the acknowledgement of the fact was enough to comfort her wife on some level. Today, however, she refuted it.

“You and I both know that doesn’t matter. If our life here in Storybrooke came under attack, I would become that monster again in the blink of an eye.”

“So would I,” she said. Regina flashed a smile at that, but the sadness that tinged her eyes tugged at Emma’s heart. The TV caught their attention as headlines about the National Guard flashed across the screen and videos of protestors pushing past lines of law enforcement officials began to play again.

Her breath caught and she could feel Regina look at her curiously. She didn’t often speak of her feelings about being part of the law enforcement community, but it was something that bothered her enough that her wife had to be aware of it on some level.

If she didn’t believe her role as the town sheriff was essential in keeping the people she would die to protect safe, she would have quit years ago. It was an unspoken hypocrisy she could not fully work through. She understood and appreciated the perks of her position, but she could not help the twinge of shame she felt when she read about some of the actions of her comrades.

She watched the crowd struggle against the police, the flashes of violence making her sick to her stomach. Perhaps it was the fact that she didn’t know who the enemy was here that caused the bitterness to enter her voice when she asked, "Aren't these the same people that insisted that blue lives matter and that law enforcement need to be obeyed no matter the circumstances?”

She wasn’t sure if Regina even heard her or if she had any idea of her internal struggle, but when their positions shifted so that it was her arm being squeezed now, she felt her heart lift just enough to get through the night.

“I don't think it would be wise to ever underestimate people's ability to rationalize away their actions, ” Regina said simply. Emma nodded in agreement, but couldn't help but wonder if she was doing exactly the same thing every day that she put on the uniform, telling herself she did it to keep the people that she loved safe.

Ever able to read her mind, Regina pressed on, "Are you thinking about resigning?"

"I don't know," she said honestly. Some days, she was sure that she should, but she had been the Sheriff and the Savior for so long now, sometimes she wasn't sure she knew who she was outside of that.

Regina placed a soft kiss on her cheek. "It isn't a decision you need to make today, my love. Just know that I will support whatever you decide to do."

"I just want to keep you safe," she whispered. Regina kissed her again.

"I know, my love. But you don't have to be the Sheriff to do that. You do it every day, just by being you."

She hesitated for a moment, then continued. "No matter what those people," she nodded towards the rioters, "say or do, just promise me you won't forget that _your_ life matters. To me and everyone else that loves you, it matters more than anything."

She put her arms around Regina, wondering if they should just turn off the TV and enjoy each other’s company. Before she could suggest it, however, Regina spoke again.

“I’m frightened, Emma,” she confessed.

“I know.”

“Maybe we should look for ways to return everyone to the Enchanted Forest.”

Ok, so maybe she hadn’t realized just how scared Regina was until that moment. Her wife adored Storybrooke. Whenever anyone mentioned returning to the Enchanted Forest, she offered to help them find a way, but was determined to remain put herself, even if it meant being the last person still living in their town.

She tightened her hold on her wife. “I don’t think that’s necessary. We live in an invisible town closer to Canada than Washington DC. We’ll be ok here.”

“Henry doesn’t, though.”

And there was the true root of both of their fears. Their beautiful little boy, their brilliant author, had grown up and decided to go out into the world. His mothers had hoped that he would explore the world and write about its beauty before returning home.

Instead, he had decided that his role in the world was to use his unique skills as a writer to expose the ugliness he saw. It was the unfortunate byproduct of being raised in a family of heroes, Emma knew. He was still so young, but his writing already raised a stir amongst journalists and while they were both so proud, they were also always so afraid.

“He could be there, you know.”

Emma nodded. He probably was in DC, actually. Henry went where the action was.

“Have you been able to reach him?”

“I texted him. Told him to call when he was able to, no matter what time it was.”

He would call, they both knew, but until he did, they would have no choice but to watch and wait.

“He wouldn’t come with us, you know.”

“To the Enchanted Forest? Yes, I know,” Regina agreed. “It was a pipe dream, I suppose.”

All at once, Emma reached over and turned off the TV.

“What are you doing?”

“That’s enough for one day.”

She laughed but had to point out the obvious. “It will still be there in the morning, my love.”

“Yeah,” Emma said. “But right now, I think we need a break.” She reached for her wife and gently stroked her back until she could feel some of the tension leave her.

Regina sighed contentedly, allowing herself to be distracted from the storm that had been brewing inside of her. “I am incredibly lucky,” she said. “But maybe that’s worse, because I know I don’t deserve it.”

“Whether or not you deserve it doesn’t matter, Regina. I love you and that’s not ever going to change. So just shut your brain off and enjoy it, cuz I am not going anywhere.”

“I love you too,” Regina replied, voice sleepy now. She continued her gentle strokes until her wife fell asleep. As she continued to hold her, both of their phones lit up at once with a text.

_I’m safe. Will call when I can. Love you, Moms._

Some of her own tension left her. The world may be upside down. It may be a scary, stormy place to be. But right now, her private little port was safe and steady. For tonight, at least, that was enough.


End file.
